Kampala — THE eye-popping phone call discounts being offered by telecom companies have unwittingly exposed their traffic capacity constraints that are persisting despite repeated assurances that the situation had gotten better.

Starting Monday, August 13 MTN Uganda has been giving both its pre and post paid customers a 50 per cent extra value on each airtime voucher purchased-till then, the biggest promotional offer ever from a cell phone company. But as would be expected, the bonus airtime was to be used in a limited, specific time: from 10 pm to 8 am excluding weekends.

Pricked by the immense pull of MTN's extra ordinary move, UTL immediately responded, setting a far more ambitious standard with complete elimination of charges on calls between 11 pm and 6 am. Celtel Uganda scrambled to join the bandwagon and threw a 50 per cent bonus on all airtime purchases.

Talkative

For the talkative lot that Ugandans are, it was supposed to be a grand party. In fact it still is only that the promised mega meal is turning out far less tasty. Since the promos started, most customers are finding it harder to place calls successfully around the time when tariff discounts are running. Most customers are reporting a surge in dropped calls, network blackouts, delayed SMS and other interruptions.

One frustrated customer wrote to the Daily Monitor last week saying: "I write in disgust and with a certain amount of anger. I am predisposed to think that MTN is purposely blocking cross network calls from UTL. Why? I am a UTL subscriber but each time I try to connect to MTN numbers it takes an unreasonably high number of attempts to get through," Sam Kawuki said.

Another writer who preferred anonymity because of his "connection" with MTN was more blunt in his comment. " Sir, With 50 per cent extra balance which MTN customers had blindly taken to be discount for more frequent buyers of airtime, MTN frauds her customers. It is not easy for the average person to ring because the majority of MTN subscribers, to whom the facility is valid, are already in bed and to make it even worse, it is not easy to go through since MTN network is at its minimum during this time," he said.

His views are shared by one Robert A.M who also wrote to Daily Monitor this week.

"I am really disappointed with MTN'S 50 per cent extra promotion. It seems it will turn out to be Kiwaani. I don't know if am the only one affected, but I have tried to make calls only to get irritating excuses like; 'there is a temporary interference in the service, number failed, network busy, not available at the moment'. What disappoints me is that from 8 am to 10 pm, everything becomes normal again with no excuses," he said.

"MTN [should] scrap the 50 per cent bonus, so that we can continue loading as usual and conduct our businesses normally because this has affected us so much." For MTN, it is particularly surprising since the company has just finished a major network upgrade that was supposed to vastly expand its traffic handling capacity.

In statements on the upgrade, the company had declared an end to the sort of nightmarish network logjams that its customers suffered in yearend festivities-a time when call traffic almost doubles on all networks. After the upgrade, the network's switches and routers were said to be able to handle three times the previous traffic.

Traffic

MTN Communications Director Philip Besiimire said the airtime bonus had expectedly spurred a jump in traffic at night but that they were not aware of the interruptions.

"What we're certain of is that more people are making calls but we haven't heard complaints about congestion. We'll check with our traffic monitors though to whether any like that is happening," he said.

In an interview, UTL Chief Commercial Officer Hans Paulsen admitted that some congestion was occurring at night as a result of scrapping charges but that it was absolutely understandable. "True there's congestion but nothing alarming. Our service quality is still above the required standards," he said.

The unusual airtime promotions from the three companies reflect the nervousness gripping them as competition in the industry escalates.

Telecom promo

MTN and Celtel have given their customers 50 per cent extra value on each airtime card purchased for intra-network phone calls.

UTL offers free phone calls to its customers for intra-nework calls made between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m